Howdens Joinery takes delivery of eight DAF tractor units

The vehicles replaced similar 64-plate units and have been supplied by Howdens' transport partner Ryder, which now provides it with 570 trucks and trailers on lease and peak rental support. Ryder also runs Howdens’ vehicle maintenance units

Charlie Nissen, national transport manager at Howdens, said: "We’re committed to having the safest trucks on the road - anything we can do to look after our people and other road-users is a must.

"These new trucks feature the second-generation Euro 6 engines; DAF is claiming significant fuel consumption improvements - if that proves to be the case, I’ll be very pleased.

"Furthermore, two of the new tractors have been fitted with predictive cruise control in order for us to assess the technology’s impact on fuel performance."

Howdens trades from 664 depots; three new depots have opened this year with another 30 planned depot openings in the remainder of 2018.

Nissen added: "Our relationship with Ryder continues to go from strength to strength. There are another 33 tractor units on order, and 10 tall boy trailers and more urban trailers due to arrive soon."